On April 5 the DOJ's Fraud Section of the Criminal Division released a policy document called The Fraud Sections’ Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Plan and Guidance. The new Guidance is an attempt to bring greater transparency to the benefits corporations will achieve by voluntarily disclosing FCPA problems and fully cooperating with investigations of these problems.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday, UK-based Ensco plc said its customer Petrobras has cancelled the contract for a drillship because of alleged payments to Petrobras employees.

The Texas Supreme Court issued a long-anticipated opinion Friday in Shell Oil Co. v. Writt, holding that an internal investigation report Shell provided to the U.S. Department of Justice about potential FCPA violations is “absolutely privileged” in a defamation proceeding and cannot be used to form the basis of a defamation claim.

Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion WeekFashion Week 2015 begins on February 12 in New York. Compliance will certainly not be on the agenda and the fashion industry has never attracted the kind of regulatory attention “enjoyed” by industries that rely heavily on public sector sales. But that doesn't mean that the industry is free of corruption risks and immune from potential FCPA enforcement actions.

Managing corruption has added benefits for a company. In 2010, when faced with hundreds of incidents of bribing government officials across multiple nations, Panalpina, the Swiss leader in logistics, admitted a culture of corruption had emanated from its senior level management who “tolerated bribery as business as usual.”

Allegations that more than a billion dollars paid to the Nigerian government ended up with a company controlled by a former Nigerian oil minister have triggered a money-laundering investigation in the UK, according to a report Wednesday from Reuters.

As part of its recent settlement with the SEC, Ralph Lauren Corporation agreed to disgorge $593,000 that was "obtained or retained as a result of the violations discovered during the investigation," along with $141,846 in pre-judgment interest.